The Alkali
(2026)(Book 11 in the U.S. Marshal Jedediah Evander Western series)
A Story by Richard Barris and C Wayne Winkle
A wall of black alkali races across the Texas Panhandle. A United States Mint wagon lies crippled inside a deadly arroyo. And somewhere beyond the storm, patient killers are waiting for the darkness to do what bullets cannot.
When U.S. Marshal Jedediah Evander and his family ride to rescue a stranded federal bullion convoy, they expect a dangerous recovery operation. Instead, they find themselves trapped inside Devil's Cut as a massive Black Duster sweeps across the plains, plunging the world into absolute darkness and choking the air with blinding alkali dust. With firearms rendered nearly useless, visibility reduced to nothing, and escape cut off by the storm, survival depends upon ingenuity, discipline, and the ability to fight an enemy no one can see.
As the Evanders struggle to keep the injured guards alive and the crippled Mint wagon from collapsing into the soft caliche, a well-prepared outlaw crew quietly begins dismantling the armored wagon from the outside. Every passing minute brings the attackers closer to the federal gold, while Lucas Evander devises increasingly desperate solutions using chains, pitons, engineering, and careful observation to turn the darkness itself against the men surrounding them. In a battle where every sound, vibration, and footstep matters, the smallest mistake can prove fatal.
With the storm showing no sign of breaking, Jedediah must hold his people together against an enemy that planned every detail long before the first gust of wind crossed the caprock. The Black Duster strips away every conventional advantage, leaving only experience, trust, and calm judgment to determine who survives until daylight and who disappears forever beneath the alkali.
Rich with frontier realism, relentless suspense, unforgettable characters, and brilliantly executed survival tactics, The Alkali delivers one of U.S. Marshal Jedediah Evander's most original adventures, proving that the deadliest battles are not always fought in the open, but in the darkness where even the ground beneath your boots cannot be trusted.
Genre: Western
When U.S. Marshal Jedediah Evander and his family ride to rescue a stranded federal bullion convoy, they expect a dangerous recovery operation. Instead, they find themselves trapped inside Devil's Cut as a massive Black Duster sweeps across the plains, plunging the world into absolute darkness and choking the air with blinding alkali dust. With firearms rendered nearly useless, visibility reduced to nothing, and escape cut off by the storm, survival depends upon ingenuity, discipline, and the ability to fight an enemy no one can see.
As the Evanders struggle to keep the injured guards alive and the crippled Mint wagon from collapsing into the soft caliche, a well-prepared outlaw crew quietly begins dismantling the armored wagon from the outside. Every passing minute brings the attackers closer to the federal gold, while Lucas Evander devises increasingly desperate solutions using chains, pitons, engineering, and careful observation to turn the darkness itself against the men surrounding them. In a battle where every sound, vibration, and footstep matters, the smallest mistake can prove fatal.
With the storm showing no sign of breaking, Jedediah must hold his people together against an enemy that planned every detail long before the first gust of wind crossed the caprock. The Black Duster strips away every conventional advantage, leaving only experience, trust, and calm judgment to determine who survives until daylight and who disappears forever beneath the alkali.
Rich with frontier realism, relentless suspense, unforgettable characters, and brilliantly executed survival tactics, The Alkali delivers one of U.S. Marshal Jedediah Evander's most original adventures, proving that the deadliest battles are not always fought in the open, but in the darkness where even the ground beneath your boots cannot be trusted.
Genre: Western
Used availability for C Wayne Winkle's The Alkali